Just A Tickle?
by sa-ta-yu-chi-chan
Summary: Ruka discovered something very strange about Hotaru. And could that be just a tickle?


**Just a Tickle???**

It's Valentine's Day and so it's obvious that everybody, (alright, honestly it's not really everybody but rather almost everybody, the majority) is busy. Well, the minority of these busy ones are happily spending their time with their special someone while the rest are just chasing after their idols, crushes, and love interests. The few exceptions from these busy persons celebrating this event include none other than the Hotaru Imai.

Hotaru decided that because it's a holiday, and it's the holiday that is absolutely stupid for her, she would just stay inside her laboratory room and simply do another one of her inventions. This time it's a sports-car-fast scooter shoes with a built-in solar-powered mp3 player with loud speakers. Whew. But just as she was about to finish the invention's exterior, which is a penguin's happy feet, she heard an alert from another invention. It's the ladybug-shaped cell phone like thingy that is automatically activated in times of danger. She looked at the device, and the screen showed the name of Mikan. Yeah, the device was really made for that purpose and person, as Mikan is always clumsy and puts herself innocently in danger. It was made in pair so that one would detect each other when the holder is in danger. Unfortunately, the device doesn't specifically show what kind of danger, so Hotaru's plan of not leaving her lab for a whole day was disrupted, as she went out to find her so-called best friend.

Hotaru found Mikan under a large tree, bruised and looking down depressed. She then said, "Hey, Baka, what have you been doing? Injuring yourself at an occasion that you have been anticipating?"

"Hotaru!" Mikan said in an almost crying voice. She also added, "My chocolate gifts for you, Natsume, and all of our friends were thrown up there in this large tree by some girls I do not know! I just tried to get them, but then I fell! Waah, Hotaru, how could I get the gifts now?"

"Stupid you! How could you worry about the gifts when you're wounded already?" Hotaru replied.

"But, . . . " Mikan tried to answer, but then Hotaru said, "Fine, I'll get it. I'll just go get my scooter and some first aid for you." Then she left immediately.

When she was going back to Mikan, she was running as scooters weren't allowed inside buildings. Just as she was going down on the stairs to the exit, she didn't notice an oily spill at the second to the last step. And so, she slipped; and, twisted her ankle.

'Ouch!' she thought. 'Stupid people who spills their gift ingredients on stairs!' she cursed in her mind. 'I could not move it without pain! Wooh!' Then, she looked at her surroundings if there were any one who saw that embarrassing moment. Thankfully, there's no one in the vicinity. She then sighed and thought, 'Better get out of this situation fast before anyone comes by here. I'm not willing to lose my pride and dignity just because I'm running as a consequence of Mikan's stupidity.'

So she stood fast, even though her left ankle still hurts a lot and is already slightly swollen. She then used her duck scooter already because: first, no one was around to scold her; second, the exit door is merely 10 meters away; and third, she could not work properly and she's not willing to show to others her pain.

She then went to Mikan fast, went up to get the stuck gifts, went down to drop the first aid and the gifts, and left without waiting for Mikan to thank her.

As she entered yet another building, the fastest way back to her laboratory, she then walked slower than usual but still very poised and normal. She really does not like the idea of embarrassment, or giving others the idea that she's weak or hurt. So she just does not mind the pain she feels, and still managed to show an emotionless face to anyone she encountered along the way.

When she was about to turn to the left, the twisted ankle gave up, she tripped once again, and then she bumped, or rather fell, on the person in front of her, who happens to be Ruka Nogi.

Ruka caught her just right in time holding her in her waist. He then noticed that her head is on his shoulders and her face is slightly flushed. He then asked, "Are you alright?"

Hotaru abruptly and proudly answered, "Of course." And then she tried to walk straight again, but the now swollen ankle just wouldn't let her so she was out of balance again and fell on him again.

"You're not alright, I can see your swollen ankle," he said to her, looking straight in her eyes, as he held her on her waist still.

For a few seconds, they stayed like that, until Hotaru muttered, "please let go of me now," while showing a very slight flush on her face again.

"Sorry," he said, in an embarrassed manner, also showing a slight blush on his face.

"It's that stupid Mikan's fault," Hotaru then said, to flee from the awkward situation.

"Oh," she heard him say. Then he added, "I know how to massage those kinds of sprains."

"Do you think I would let you touch me again?" Hotaru proudly said, so as to decline his offer in her own scary manner.

"But," he replied, "I'm not asking for anything in return, and you couldn't walk or even stand straight, as I can see you're now leaning on the wall."

"Fine," she agreed, seeing she has no other way, "but there's a condition, no one should know about this incident."

"Alright," he replied again.

He then massaged her sprained ankle there, while she sat at the floor for a while. Good thing, there were no passersby at that corner of the building. When he was finished, he then asked her what was boggling her awhile ago.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked courageously.

"What?" she answered.

"Why was your face flushed when I caught you awhile ago?" he inquired again bravely.

"Because . . . " she muttered, thinking if she would say the truth or not.

"Because . . . " he repeated after her, while getting closer and closer to her face.

"Because . . . " she was still deciding what to say, when she noticed that he's very near to her face already. She then yelled at him, "What? Why are you getting near me? Did you think I would confess to you?"

"Uhhh, nnno," he stuttered. "I'm just curious, aanndd you're voice earlier was soft."

"Fine, I would already say to you the truth. I felt something when you touched me. And that is a ticklish feeling! Get it! Don't you dare say these incidences and that secret to anyone, or else, your pictures would scatter not only here but also outside of this academy." Hotaru said then left, as she could already move his left foot well, with that slight flush on her face again unknown to him nonetheless.

Well what she said was the truth. She has really a tickle in that part of her body. And only her parents knew about that until awhile ago. But that wasn't the complete truth now. Because the blush when she left him did not came from a tickle, but from a very strange feeling she started to fell when he was nearing her while asking. It was a very much different feeling than just a tickle.

Going back to Ruka, he was now speechless. He never imagined that Hotaru has also a tickle, and in the waist. He surely believed what she said to him, but he felt that there's something more to it. And maybe he really hoped that there's really something more than just a tickle.

Happy Valentine's everyone!

Please review!

And thank you for reading!


End file.
